Moyers snags Region II title, Western headed to state tournament

When he started his day with a pair of bogeys, Mikey Moyers didn’t expect to be posing for pictures while holding the Region II individual medallist trophy.
“When I bogeyed those two holes I didn’t think I was going to qualify for states,” Moyers said. “So I was a little worried.”
Moyers responded to the two bogeys by birdieing the next three holes. The William Monroe senior did not falter for the rest of the day, putting up a 5-under 66 to take the top spot in the tournament, just one stroke ahead of Sherando’s Casey Thompson.
“It definitely changed my round,” Moyers said of the string of birdies. “It gave me a lot of momentum and got me back under par.”
While happy to win the event at Old Trail, Moyers has his eyes set on defending his Group AA state championship next week.
“Really it’s a qualifying event for states,” Moyers said. “It’s nice to win it but there’s still more.”
Moyers will have one advantage as Old Trail will host the Group AA championship this Monday. It seems to be a course that the Stanardsville native is comfortable playing on as he placed third in the Old Trail Invitational this past summer.
“I’m assuming we’re going to be playing from the black tees,” Moyers said. “So I think it’ll take four or five under to win.”
No matter the outcome in next weeks state tournament Moyers golfing career will continue. He accepted an offer to play for Virginia Tech this past August.
In the team portion of the event, Western Albemarle took second place to earn a spot in next week’s state tournament. It is the second year in a row that the Warriors have advanced to the final event of the season.
“We finished fourth last year,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “So we wanted to come back and get an opportunity to play again on our home course and see if we could do a little better.”
The Warriors’ team total of 294 was good enough to edge out Briar Woods by four stokes to take the last qualifying spot. Loudon County finished ahead of the Warriors by two strokes to place first.
“We’re real excited to advance,” Maynard said. “We wanted to win today but I can’t say that we didn’t perform well. Two hundred and ninety four is a great score so I tip my hat to Loudon County.”
Leading the way for Western was Patrick Leisure — the Jefferson District champion shot a
1-under 70.
“I played alright but I didn’t putt very well,” Leisure said. “I was hitting the ball alright so that kind of countered things.”
Leisure’s teammates — first-year starters Ryan Fellows, Landon Weis, and Raleigh Davis — played beyond their youth by putting up scores of 73, 75 and 76 respectively.
“We lost five of our top six players last year so I thought things would be rusty,” Leisure said. “But we’re looking pretty solid, we’ve got some real good new players.”
The Warriors are hoping that playing on their home course at Old Trail will give them the edge to knock off the two time defending champions, Blacksburg.
“I know Blacksburg returned everybody and it wasn’t even close last year,” Maynard said. “I think it’ll take something like this, something in the 290s and in tougher conditions to win. We may be able to do it, we may not, but we’ll be trying.”